Helen Mirren Featured in Redbook: “I Wear Makeup Every Day”

Despite the fact that she’s turning 69 this summer, Helen Mirren is on top of her game in a way many of her peers can’t comprehend.

The “Calendar Girls” actress sat down with Redbook for a fascinating interview included in the August 2014 issue.

Regarding her daily beauty routine, Helen confessed, “I wear makeup every day. I love putting it on, and I get really into it: a little bit of this here, and little bit of that there… But then I stand back and look into the mirror and it’s awful! So I take it all off because I’ve gotten too anal about it. It’s absolutely true that as you get older, you have to wear less and less makeup. You can get away with naked eyes if you’ve got red lips. Or red lips and sunglasses.”

Mirren plays French chef Madame Mallory in her new flick “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” a role that forced her to stretch a bit. “Oh, God, she’s so not close to me. As a Brit, we’ve always looked to the French and [wondered], Why do they never look untidy? We’ve got a terrific inferiority complex when it comes to them.”

Helen also noted that the rumor about her self-cut hair is more true than false. “Not always, but yes, I can’t handle going to the hairdresser every six weeks, so I only go about once a year. In between, I get out the scissors and do something, usually rather disastrously. Sometimes I’ll even chop my hair the morning of a big red carpet event.”